President Obama boosting border troops

by Erin Kelly - May. 26, 2010 12:00 AMRepublic Washington Bureau

WASHINGTON - For months, a bipartisan group of lawmakers in Arizona and around the country has been pleading with President Barack Obama to deploy National Guard troops to help secure the U.S. border with Mexico.

On Tuesday, with the national conversation about border and immigration at a fever pitch because of Arizona's tough new immigration law, Obama announced that he is sending up to 1,200 troops to the border. Details have not been released on when they will arrive, where they will be stationed or how long they will stay. But their primary mission will be to assist with the battle against drug smugglers, working primarily on intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance until more Border Patrol agents can be hired and trained.

The decision to ramp up manpower comes as Obama tries to convince Congress that he is doing all he can to secure the border - a key to persuading reluctant lawmakers to pass comprehensive immigration reform.

It also comes as time is running out in a particularly contentious midterm election year, with Democrats likely to lose seats in the House and Senate and Republicans struggling for traction amid continuing anti-Washington "tea party" anger.

News of the Guard deployment emerged shortly after Obama met with Senate Republicans on Tuesday. Comprehensive immigration reform was among the topics discussed.

Obama also is asking Congress to approve $500 million for enhanced border protection and law-enforcement activities as part of an emergency-spending bill being debated by the Senate this week.

Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., who has called for the National Guard deployment, said 1,200 troops are not enough to convince critics like him that the administration is serious about border security.

"I've already talked to Sheriff Larry Dever of Cochise County and others, and it's simply way too small of a number," McCain told The Arizona Republic. "We need 3,000 Guard just in Arizona alone. ... In some ways, this is more of a gesture than anything that could really have the kind of impact that we need to have to really secure our border."

'Important shift'

Gov. Jan Brewer, who has seen her job-approval ratings soar in the wake of signing Senate Bill 1070, the state's tough new immigration law, has jumped on the immigration issue as a major campaign cornerstone. She said the decision is "a very significant and important shift in the president's immigration and border-security policy."

"My signing of Senate Bill 1070 has clearly ignited the talk of action in Washington for the people of Arizona and other border states," Brewer said, although she thinks more must be done. "I am pleased that President Obama has now, apparently, agreed that our nation must secure the border to address rampant border violence and illegal immigration."

Obama administration officials said their willingness to deploy troops is the latest in a 16-month effort that has increased federal law enforcement, equipment and surveillance at the border and resulted in record seizures of illegal weapons and bulk cash from drug cartels, as well as fewer immigrants trying to illegally cross the border into the United States.

The Mexican Embassy said that the Mexican government hopes the troops will help the U.S. government catch more of the weapons and drug money that drug-cartel members bring south into Mexico, resources that help fuel a bloody drug war that has resulted in the deaths of more than 20,000 Mexicans since late 2006.

This won't be the first time National Guard troops have helped patrol the southwestern border.

In 2006, President George W. Bush sent 6,000 troops as part of a two-year effort known as Operation Jump Start to help with support duties until the Border Patrol was able to increase its staffing. The Border Patrol today has more than 20,000 agents nationwide, more than 16,000 of whom are assigned to the U.S.-Mexican border.

McCain and Sen. Jon Kyl, R-Ariz., proposed an amendment Tuesday to an emergency-spending bill to fund 6,000 troops along the southwestern border.

"We believe the situation on the border is far worse today than it was then (in 2006) due to the escalating violence between the Mexican drug cartels and the Mexican government," the senators said in a joint statement.

Along the border, there was disagreement Tuesday on whether more security is needed.

Arturo Garino, a city councilman in Nogales, Arizona's largest border city, said he supports Obama's decision. But Garino said he wants the troops deployed on the outskirts, not in the city itself. He is afraid troops patrolling in the city could create the false impression that Nogales is not safe and could drive away tourists.

"We are one of the safest cities around," Garino said.

Robert Smith, 70, who lives about 13 miles from the border in Patagonia and regularly sees smugglers and illegal immigrants, doesn't think extra troops are the answer.

"What you need to do is reduce the incentive that's bringing people over," he said. "We need to limit the amount of money they can send home."

Years of requests

Arizona Attorney General Terry Goddard, the presumptive Democratic nominee for governor, attributed the deployment decision to years of requests for assistance from him and others. He acknowledged that SB 1070 and the resulting furor could have also been a factor.

"It may have played a role because it showed how seriously Arizona is taking this issue," he said.

Although many border-state members of Congress applauded Obama's action, they were skeptical that it would lead to reform this year.

"I think it's a positive gesture, but it's only a temporary solution," said Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas.

Rep. Ann Kirkpatrick, D-Ariz., said that the action shows Washington "is finally listening" but that it is unlikely to produce immediate results.

Bush's deployment of the National Guard also came in a midterm election year and amid a big push for comprehensive immigration reform. A measure passed the Senate that year but died in the House.

On the same day that his administration announced the National Guard deployment, Obama met with Republican senators to press his case for immigration reform and other legislative priorities.

"We made a strong case, obviously, for our 10-point (border security) plan, and the president's response was that he wanted to have comprehensive reform," McCain said, referring to a joint plan with Kyl. "Jon and I made the argument that we need to secure the borders first.

"And then, within I believe a half-hour, it was announced that they were going to ask for an additional $500 million and send 1,200 troops to the border."

Other Arizona lawmakers praised Obama's decision.

"Arizona and other border states are grateful for the additional resources at the border, but I hope that this is merely the first step in a process that culminates in Congress passing comprehensive immigration reform," said Rep. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz.

The decision should help boost the re-election campaigns of Gabrielle Giffords, D-Ariz., and Kirkpatrick, who have called for increased border security.